The latest news from around the globe

Hopes of finding the missing British crew of the Cheeki Rafiki have all but faded after the yacht’s life raft was found on board the capsized vessel.

The US Coast Guard called off its search at midnight (3am British time), and an RAF Hercules plane due to hunt for the four sailors will not go out today.

Underwater imagery taken by a swimmer from a US Navy warship showed the raft clearly stowed in place, indicating it had not been deployed in an emergency.

UKIP NOW A SERIOUS THREAT - FARAGE

Mainstream parties are grappling to deal with the Ukip threat as Nigel Farage claimed significant local election wins showed his Eurosceptics were “serious players”.

Ukip gained more than 120 seats on English councils in a surge that left other party leaders forced to acknowledge the depth of voter anger and criticism of their approach.

Labour leader Ed Miliband faced the most serious questions after his party failed to make the sort of gains to suggest he can win an outright majority in next year’s general election.

PM’S FITNESS GURU AT CHEQUERS LUNCH

David Cameron’s personal trainer was among guests invited to a taxpayer-funded lunch for top figures from the world of sport at Chequers, information released by Downing Street showed.

Fitness guru to the stars Matt Roberts joined former England rugby and cricket captains, Olympic champions, top administrators and TV presenters at a lunch to discuss sports policy.

His name appeared on a list of people who “received official hospitality” at the PM’s grace-and-favour country retreat in the final quarter of last year.

BID TO SALVAGE ARTWORKS AFTER BLAZE

A salvage operation has continued through the night as fire crews work to “save everything that can be saved” after flames engulfted a world-famous art school building.

The blaze took hold at Glasgow School of Art’s Charles Rennie Mackintosh building yesterday as students worked to complete their end-of-year assessments.

Firefighters who were at the scene within four minutes of receiving the first emergency call brought the blaze under control and said more than 90% of the structure was “viable”.

CORRIE PLOT TIPPED FOR SOAP GONGS

The stars of Coronation Street’s controversial right-to-die storyline could walk away with a handful of gongs at tonight’s Soap Awards.

More than 10 million viewers tuned in to watch Julie Hesmondhalgh’s character, Hayley Cropper, commit suicide in a controversial right-to-die plot in January.

The actress joined the soap in 1998 to play its first transsexual and won the hearts of the nation with her on-screen romance with cafe owner Roy, played by David Neilson.

BOSSES IGNORE OWN FOOD EXPIRY DATES

The bosses of some of Britain’s largest supermarket chains say they regularly ignore expiry dates on the food they eat at home, with one admitting some dating policies are “ridiculous”.

The heads at Sainsbury’s, Morrisons and the Co-op told The Times they ignored both sell-by and best-before dates, while executives from Tesco, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer disregarded use-by dates.

It comes as campaigners argues that millions of tonnes of food is wasted or thrown away each year in the UK because of confusion among consumers over when food is no longer safe to eat.

FERGUSON WINES UP FOR AUCTION

Part of the wine collection of former Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is to be sold at auction today.

The wines will be offered at a sale in Hong Kong in the first of three auctions expected to raise a total of more than £3 million, Christie’s said.

Further sales will take place in London on June 5 and online from June 9 to 23.

FRAUD CHARGE COUPLE REMANDED IN US

A retired British couple who lost their fight against extradition have been remanded in custody by a US court on fraud charges.

Paul and Sandra Dunham, both 58, were flown to the US from Heathrow Airport on Thursday.

The couple, from Northampton, appeared before Maryland magistrate judge William Connelly in the US District Court at Greenbelt. They will next appear at the court on Tuesday for a bail hearing.

MUSIC GREATS TO WOW FESTIVAL FANS

Some of the biggest names in music will perform for tens of thousands of fans today in a weekend-long festival.

One Direction will open BBC Radio 1’s Big Weekend event taking place at Glasgow Green.

Up to 50,000 revellers will attend the festival over two days to watch a line-up including Coldplay and Calvin Harris.

500,000 MIGRANTS NEEDED: TREASURY

Scotland needs almost 500,000 migrants over the next 20 years to achieve the same balance of pensioners and working-age adults as the UK, according to the Treasury.

The increase would be the equivalent of adding another Edinburgh to Scotland’s population, the UK Government department said.

The ageing population and the implications on levels of migration is one of five key areas considered in the Treasury’s latest analysis assessing an independent Scotland’s fiscal position between 2016 - the first year of independence - and 2035/36.

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